Effects of Water Conservation Methods and Cropping Systems on Growth and Yields of Maize and Beans in Wairaka, Jinja, Uganda

Abstract

Maize and beans form a significant part of the diet for thousands of households in Uganda and neighbouring countries, but the yields of these crops have been greatly affected by erratic rains and prolonged droughts. Irrigation schemes are often prohibitively expensive for small-scale farmers in Uganda and elsewhere. Low-cost water conservation practices such as double digging, mulching and effective cropping systems can greatly reduce evaporation, surface runoff and increase water retention in the soils and thereby have the potential to enhance the production and yield of maize and beans under variable rainfall conditions without requiring capital input from farmers. This study investigated the impact of double digging, mulching, and also intercropping devices on the development and also yields of beans and maize in Wairaka, Jinja District, Uganda. A randomized complete block layout with 3 replications of the treatments was used, data was collected on the plant growth parameters; plant heights, number of leaves and yield parameters; cob length, number of seeds per cob/pod, weight per bean seed and total maize/bean yields. The results demonstrated that the development of maize and also beans have been discovered to be much higher in double digging, intercropping, and mulching. Double digging increased maize and beans plant heights by 0.91% and 20.78% respectively over single digging. Similarly, the cob length, total maize yields, seeds per pod, and total bean yields by 4.79%, 0.37%, 39.39%, 3.01% was enhanced double digging, respectively. Inter-cropping of maize and beans increased the maize plant height, cob length and total maize yield by 0.54%, 5.52%, and 2.43% respectively over maize monocrop while the bean plant height, seeds per pod and the total were increased by 4.33%, 22.86%, and 3.26% respectively over bean monocrop. Mulch significantly affected the growth and yields of both maize and beans. The mean increase in maize plant height was 1.36% and 0.29%, and bean plant height was 12.76%, and 7.06% in the case of dry banana leaves and dry grass, as compared to the control (no mulch). The mean cob length difference and total maize yields were 4.96%, 2.90% and 1.57% 0.93% while the seeds per pod and total bean yields were 25% and 12.5% and 5.00% and 3.68% in the case of dry banana leaves and dry grass, respectively, over the control (no mulch). The low-cost methods we investigated, mainly double digging, dry banana leaves mulches, and maize-bean intercrop, are promising in ensuring yields against erratic rainfall and drought and can be recommended to farmers.